The Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic will be run for the 36th time on Saturday. First contested in 1991, the signature race at Del Mar has successfully stood the test of time as one of America’s premier races. Held each summer at one of the most idyllic settings in racing, the 1 1/4-affair has been an important fixture on the nation’s calendar since its inception.

From Best Pal beating a star-studded field in the inaugural running all the way through Fierceness defeating Journalism in the 2025 edition, the Pacific Classic continues to produce outstanding winners who are often rewarded with Eclipse Awards at some point during their racing careers.

Counting down from five, let’s look back at the best of the winners from 35 memorable editions of the Pacific Classic. My criteria for ranking them was based simply on which horses I believed to be best during their racing career, with their performance in the race also considered when breaking ties. This list is sure to cause some serious discussion considering several spectacular horses were left off. My apologies to all of those excellent runners and their many fans, but on this list there was only room for five. This is exactly why America’s Best Racing pays me the big bucks.

5. Shared Belief - Lost to this world much too soon, the Candy Ride gelding made the most of his limited racing career. A Grade 1 winner in each of his three seasons on the track, the Jerry Hollendorfer-trainee won 10-of-12 lifetime. Outstanding from six furlongs to 1 ¼ miles, he also had big excuses in his only two losses. A contemporary of California Chrome, he decisively beat that Hall of Fame runner in their last meeting. His dominating win in the 2014 edition of the Pacific Classic came as a 3-year-old while defeating several strong horses, including the older Game On Dude who had won the previous edition. Among the excellent horses that Shared Belief edged out for the final spot include his unbeaten sire and Hall of Famer Lava Man. Sadly, Shared Belief succumbed to complications from a severe colic episode at the age of 4 while in training for a return to the races.

4. Beholder - The only female ever to win the Pacific Classic is one of four winners currently in the Hall of Fame. Trained by Richard Mandella, the daughter of Henny Hughes will best be remembered for her overall excellence at the Breeders’ Cup. At 2, she won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. At 3, she defeated older fillies and mares in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Then, at the age of 6 in her final career race, she bested the champion Songbird by a whisker to win the Breeders’ Cup Distaff for a second time. As amazing as her perfect record in the World Championships is, it was her first attempt in the Pacific Classic that may have been the greatest performance of her career. Facing males for the first time, Beholder blitzed the boys by 8 ¼ lengths. She returned one year later to finish second to the champion California Chrome in the 2016 edition of the big race.

3. Best Pal - Arguably California’s greatest gelding of the last half-century, the California-bred son of Habitony was a stalwart of West Coast racing for more than half a decade. A multiple Grade 1 winner as a juvenile, he left his home state for the first time to finish second in the 1991 Kentucky Derby. A few months later he became the biggest star in a loaded inaugural edition of the Pacific Classic with a one-length score. Perhaps he was never better than that afternoon, but his story was far from over. He would run third then second in two more attempts in Del Mar’s signature race and was a fixture in big races in California through the age of 7. During his 47-race career, he won all of the most important races on the West Coast and was a graded stakes winner in each of his first six seasons on the track. Overall, the Hall of Famer won 17 stakes races and retired as the richest California-bred in history with better than $5.66 million in earnings for Golden Eagle Farm.

2. California Chrome - Continuing the theme of being a top horse from beginning to the end of their career, this rags to riches runner splashed on to the scene as a juvenile. By the time he got to the 2014 Belmont Stakes, he had won six straight stakes including the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Close to winning the Triple Crown as a 3-year-old, the copper-colored chestnut took home his first Horse of the Year title after winning a Grade 1 race on the turf to close out his busy sophomore campaign. After missing much of his 4-year-old season due to physical setbacks, the Art Sherman-trained star picked right up where he left off by stringing together six consecutive victories, including the Dubai World Cup and a five-length romp in the 2016 edition of the Pacific Classic. A second Horse of the Year title was awarded following his 5-year-old season, and several years later he was inducted into the Hall of Fame to the delight of his many fans.

1. Flightline - I am decidedly not a fan of the short racing careers of many of our best horses, so you know Flightline had to be very special to earn the top spot in the rankings. A son of Tapit, this unique talent only made it to the races six times but was still able to prove himself as the most dominant American runner of the 21st century. After winning a maiden and an allowance by 26 lengths combined, he set his sights on Grade 1 competition. Dominant wins around one turn on opposite coasts in the Malibu Stakes and Metropolitan Handicap were the appetizers for the main dish of 1 ¼ miles in his final two races. In his first try running a distance of ground, Flightline turned in one of the most visually impressive races of my lifetime by running away from his competition by 19 ¼ lengths in the 2022 Pacific Classic. The athletic bay finished his career for trainer John Sadler with a 8 1/4-length romp in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Race Course. The winning margins of both races remain the largest in the history of each.